


Up Late

by Gremlin5869



Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU, Destiel - Freeform, M/M, SPN - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-20
Updated: 2015-10-20
Packaged: 2018-04-27 08:38:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5041495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gremlin5869/pseuds/Gremlin5869
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean Winchester is running behind on test work and makes a deal with Cas so he can pass, friendly conversation and a fair share of awkwardness from them both but it turns out, a little bit of awkward is good</p>
            </blockquote>





	Up Late

Dean Winchester, most commonly known to disrupt class, therefore Castiel has done his best to avoid him when possible.  
However, according to Cas' friends, Dean is actually a pretty chill guy otherwise.  
Cas has seen him around in the halls, at lunch, he seems alright, he looks nice enough, all except for that raggedy leather jacket he always wears. (Which violates dress code by the way)

It's finals and Cas always gets an early start during finals, he has work to turn in today and if he wants to get his morning jog in, it's 6AM for breakfast.

He gathers up his things and wanders down to the shared student kitchen in his running clothes.  
He steps around the corner and is greeted by the ever so amusing sight of Dean, dancing in place by the coffee pot, humming and drumming on the counter along with the tune.  
"Metallica?" Cas asks as a way to announce his presence. Dean jumps, almost knocking his mug off the counter as he spins around.  
"Jesus christ-" He chokes, attempting to act like he wasn't just dancing to music that he himself was making. "Uh, yeah, stuck in my head." He rubs the back of his neck, leaning back against the counter.  
Cas smiles at him and drops his bag by the table in the corner.

"You're up early." Dean looks down at the floor as he speaks.  
"Yeah, test today." Cas smiles again, more awkwardly this time as he drops some toast in the toaster, silently wishing Dean wouldn't talk to him this early in the morning.

Dean pours himself some coffee and they stand in near silence while he drinks it and Cas' toast cooks.  
Cas watches him out of the corner of his eye as he butters his toast, as if Dean was going to lunge at him or something.  
Dean has already finished his cup and is back for more. Cas watches as he pours another cup and realizes he's not wearing his jacket. Or shoes.

"Did you sleep at all last night?" Cas asks as he scans Dean over. His hair's a mess, he looks like hell in human form.  
"Nope." Dean turns around and smiles at him.  
He sips at his coffee. "Been up all night finishing that paper we're supposed to turn in today." He gestures to the table Cas set his bag by. His laptop is set open and the entire table is covered with various notes and textbooks.

"They gave us three weeks for that paper." Cas turns back to Dean and just stares. "Yeah, well, I didn't start till last night." He shrugs  
Cas leans against the counter, eating his toast as Dean downs his coffee.  
His hands are shaking a little as he pours another cup and shuffles over to the the table, plopping down in his seat.

"Jesus Dean, how much coffee have you had?" There's a slight worried tone in his voice that he hadn't meant to be there.  
Dean laughs a bit and sips his coffee. "Oh, I don't know, about a pot and a half in the last hour or so. I gotta get this done or I flunk the class."  
He shrugs and leans back a little, sipping his coffee again, staring blankly at his laptop.  
"Okay, how about this, I'll let you copy off me just this once, but you have to get some sleep." Dean scrunches his face up in confusion, baffled at what just came out of Cas' mouth.  
"..And you have to promise to take me to lunch sometime." Cas finishes. Dean looks over at him, eyes wide. Realization sets in and Cas shakes his head. "Fuck, sorry." He blurts out as he walks hurriedly over to get his bag  
He's right beside Dean and he's torn between going for a kiss and stabbing himself in the face with a fork.

He grabs his bag up and Dean grabs his wrist. Cas freezes and looks up at him. His bright blue eyes wide and mouth slack  
"Hey, stop." Dean lets go so Cas can stand up. "I'd love to." He smiles up at Cas as he tries to collect himself.  
"What?" Cas squints down at him. "You hardly know me though, I thought-"  
"I guess you thought wrong." Dean interrupts "I want to know you better." He smiles. "And no, it's not just because I need help here, which I do and I'm glad you offered, which was very nice by the way-" Dean realizes he's rambling and sighs. "I- uh, I would really like to know you better." He trails off, ripping his eyes away from Cas' and stares down at his coffee.  
Cas is just standing there, mouth slack, watching Dean.

He takes a drink of his coffee and Cas lifts it out of his hand. "Hey, that's mine." Dean complains, reaching after it.  
"Well, it tastes like shit and you don't have to worry about the paper anymore"  
Cas sets the cup by the pot and turns to face Dean. "Go get some sleep, I'll take care of your paper, I'll just run a little further tomorrow." Cas huffs quietly.  
Dean slumps further into his seat. "Fine, but lunch this Saturday?"  
Cas' lips quirk up at the edges just a little. "Sounds good, I'm in the library most Saturdays, you could probably find me there."  
Dean groans as he stands up. "God, just make me do everything why don't ya." He smiles and winks at Cas as he turns to gather up his things.

Butterflies swirl in Cas' stomach as he walks over to help.

_______

Saturday comes around, Dean passed the test with Cas' help, which he's move than thankful for.

"Sammy! Hey, stop." Dean jogs to catch up to his brother on the sidewalk.  
"What?" He keeps walking but slows a bit so Dean can catch up. "I swear, if you ask me anymore questions about that Novak guy, I'm going to go insane." He huffs.  
Dean frowns at the back of Sam's head. "Just one more, I'm taking him to lunch today and I don't know where to go." Dean studies Sam's face as he walks up beside him, hardly paying attention to where he's going.

Sam turns his head and gives Dean what might very well be the bitchiest face humanly possible, then rolls his eyes. "Just take him to Harvelle's, they've got burgers, I'm sure he'll like that just fine."  
"But what if he doesn't like burgers? What if he's a vegetarian or something?"

Sam stops walking and grabs his brother by the arms. "Just take him, it'll be fine. You're worrying about this too much, it's just lunch."  
Dean shrugs out of Sam's grip and looks down the length of the sidewalk. "Should I wear something nice?"  
Sam gives out an irritated laugh. "God, you're like a middle school kid going to their first dance." He walks off without another word.

Dean shows up to the library about an hour later, he's lost the jacket and replaced it with one of Sam's hoodies.  
He finds Cas in the back of the science fiction section, he's curled up, feet and all in one of the chairs with a worn copy of 'The Hobbit' he folds it shut just as Dean spots him.

"Charlie says that's her favorite book." He gestures to the book when Cas' eyes find his.  
"Oh," Cas smiles. "It was very good, just finished it, I was reading back through some of my favorite parts."  
"People do that?" Dean asks, half joking. "People? Not really." He stands up and walks over to the shelf, scanning it carefully. "But I like to." He smiles, slipping the book back into it's place.

"So where for lunch?" Cas asks. Dean hums thoughtfully. "How about Harvelle's? That burger place." He pauses briefly. "You like burgers?"  
Cas catches his hesitance and smiles reassuringly. "Yeah, I've had a few good ones from around"  
Dean smiles awkwardly. "Alright, Harvelle's it is."

The conversation on the way feels pressured and uncomfortable and Dean starts to dread that neither of them will open up during lunch. That is until Ellen's warm welcome as they walk through the open door, the air of the place always so relaxing. Dean's reassuring glance at Cas confirmed that he had loosened up too.

They find a booth and get settled. "What'll it be, stranger?" Jo peaks over the notepad at them, smirk on her face, as always.  
"The usual, burger with everything-" "Except onions, I know." She smiles and scribbles it down.  
"How about you?" She looked over to Cas. He hadn't had time to look at the menu. "Er- I'll just have what Dean's having." He smiles awkwardly up at Jo as she scribbled that down too. "That'll be a few minutes, want anything to drink while you're waiting?" She looked to Cas this time.  
"I'll just have a coke, please." "Make that two" Dean interjected. Jo nodded and walked off.

Cas followed her with his eyes. "She seems nice" He smiled and turned back to Dean who was playing with a grain of salt on the table.  
He looked up and smiled back at Cas. "She is, very." He looked over to where she was filling their cups. "Family friend. Ellen went to school with my mom and when she found out we were moving here, she helped move and gave my mom work till she could get on her feet." Cas nodded thoughtfully.  
"Yeah, so Jo and me kinda grew up together, she's like a sister." Dean smiled and nodded past Cas' shoulder at Jo who had their drinks.

She set them on the table. "I'll be back in a minute with your food."  
Cas thanked her and turned back to Dean. "How long have you lived here?" He asked as he sipped his drink  
"Me?" I've been here since I was five. Mom moved from Kansas when our house burned down. The nightlight in my brother's nursery shorted out."  
Cas raised an eyebrow and Dean smiled. "No one got hurt." He reassured him. "Mom always wanted to live in Missouri, the fire just gave her a reason to move I guess. I don't know why, pretty boring state if you ask me."

Cas laughed and ducked his head. "Something funny?" Dean smiled.  
"It's not that bad, is it?" Cas smiled back, stirring his drink with his straw.  
"Name something good about this state." Dean challenged as he leaned forward on the table, resting his weight on his elbows.  
Cas sat quiet for a minute, a faint smile on his face. "Uhm.. It has grass, that's a good thing." He laughed, giving up.  
Dean broke into laughter as well. "Yeah, the trees are pretty nice too." He teased, making Cas laugh harder.

Just then, Jo walked up with their food and smiled as they calmed themselves.  
She set their food down and stopped by Cas on her way back to the counter. "Watch out for this one," She smiled, nodding towards Dean. "He's pretty grumpy." She made a pouty face at Dean who laughed and swatted her back. She laughed as she walked off, shaking her head.  
Cas smiled fondly at their interaction.

Dean took no time starting on his burger, so Cas followed suit.  
Dean let out a small moan of pleasure with his first bite. It actually was pretty good, Cas thought. But perhaps not the best burger out there, but certainly the best he had had in a long while.

Several minutes of nearly silent chewing went by before Dean broke the silence. "What do you think it would be like to live in North Carolina?" He mumbled through a mouthful of food.  
"North Carolina?" Cas asked. "Why there?" he bit down on the little bit of burger he had left as Dean swallowed.  
"I don't know, my step brother, Adam, lives there with my dad. I've talked to him a couple times over the phone and from what he says, it sounds pretty okay." He shrugged, eating his last bite and sipping at his drink.  
"I've heard the ocean is kinda grey there, but other than that, I couldn't tell you." Cas made a face that said sorry but he didn't say anything else.

Dean shrugged again. "You done?" he asked after Cas had taken his last bite too. "Yeah, I'll uh, meet you outside?" Cas asked as he pulled out his wallet and left a tip on the table.  
"Yeah," Dean smiled. "I'll just be a minute."

Cas got up first and hesitantly went back out the open door as Dean walked up to the counter where Jo was.  
"That's the boy you're always on about to Sam, isn't it? Caz?" She asked as Dean passed her the cash  
"Casss." He corrected. "And yeah." He smiled awkwardly and silently wished Jo would just give him the damn change.  
"He seems nice. Cute too." She teased, taking her sweet time counting it back to him.  
Dean blushed till the tips of his ears turned red and left without another word.

________

He found Cas around the side of the building crouched by a bush.  
"What are you doing?" Dean asked, stepping up till he was about five feet away. "Watching.."  
Cas' short answer cleared literally nothing up. "Uh, watching what?" Dean stepped closer so maybe he could see what was so interesting.

In front of Cas was a cluster of small pink flowers. "There's a hone bee.." Cas trailed off. "You're watching a bee?" Dean furrowed his brow, peeking around Cas a little further.  
"Yes, he's pollinating these flowers, just doing his job, he doesn't even know how much his little job matters." He smiled over his shoulder at Dean who smiled back and stepped up beside him before sitting down in the grass and watching as well.

The bee buzzed from flower to flower pausing briefly on each one. Cas looked so focused, his one eyebrow cocked up in interest, his half-chapped lips slightly parted, his hands resting gently on his legs.  
Dean realized he was staring and glanced up to Cas' eyes, Cas was staring right at him, smiling fondly. Shit.  
"Sorry." Dean muttered, shuffling to get up (yes Dean, because running away from your problems is always a great fix) Cas grabbed his arm.  
"Dean?" Dean was half standing, bent over so he was eye level with Cas, tethered by his arm. "Uh, yeah Cas?"  
Cas smiled, his blue eyes practically glowing in the sunlight. "Can I kiss you?"  
Dean's stomach did a flip and he stood stunned, a look of shock with a hint of fear took over his face. Cas however, looked calm, a hint of a smile played at his lips as he looked up at Dean.

"Yes.." Dean blurted, blinking slowly. Cas sat up on his knees and pressed a soft kiss on the corner of his mouth, closing his eyes at the contact.  
Dean stared at Cas' closed eyes until he pulled away. "Was that.. Alright?" Cas asked after several seconds of silence.  
He let go f Dean's arm and scratched the side of his face, the stubble made a quiet sandpapery sound.

Dean stood up. "Yeah. Yes." he mumbled and rubbed his neck. Cas stood up, studying his expression carefully. "Are you okay?" Cas tipped his head.  
"Dean?" Cas prompted but was startled when Dean grabbed the sides of his face and kissed him again.  
The shock melted away and kissed back, winding his hands around Dean's waist. Dean pulled back and ran his thumb over Cas' bottom lip.  
Cas smiled up at him and rubbed his hip softly. "Was that alright?" Dean asked, smiling back.  
"Yes, very." Cas grinned and ducked his head.  
Dean dropped his hands away from Cas' face. "Cas?"  
Cas looked up, dropping his hands from Dean's hips. "Yes, Dean?" "Can I hold your hand?"  
Cas smiled again "Of course."

He held out his hand and Dean tool it, leading Cas back to the Impala.  
The ride back to campus was quiet but their hands stayed clasped across the seat between them the whole ride.  
There were various different accounts of fights, make-ups, hand holding, kissing and stealing each others clothing. Ans after school, they moved in together and a year after that, Castiel Novak became Castiel Winchester.


End file.
